


mae goes back 2 college (or: the house party at the end of the world)

by orphan_account



Category: Night In The Woods (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-14
Updated: 2017-09-14
Packaged: 2018-12-29 17:26:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12089829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Mae's homecoming. Continues where "Mae's Fun Road Trip to Bright Harbor" left off, though it's not a big deal if you didn't read that one.





	mae goes back 2 college (or: the house party at the end of the world)

mae goes back to college (or: the house party @ the end of the world)

"See these eyes so green  
I can stare for a thousand years  
Colder than the moon  
Well it's been so long"

\- "Cat People", David Bowie

“Hey Mae.”  
“How are you holding up?”  
Mae squinted at her laptop.  
It was eleven A.M., and she had just gotten up, and had grabbed her laptop nearby and pulled it open. There were seven texts from Bea.  
“I guess you’re asleep.”  
She had sent these at 6:07 am. Jeez.  
“Just want you to know I miss you.”  
“I hope you’re doing well.”  
“Sorry. I hope this isn’t too sentimental. Let me know when you’re awake?”  
“<3”  
She smiled.  
It was her first week in college, and she had settled in gracefully. And by gracefully, she meant she had spent the last week sleeping and dragging herself in between her dorm and the cafeteria. Her diet basically entirely consisted of lasagna and sleeping pills. And donuts.  
She hadn’t talked to her new roommate much, who was a goat named Kerry. She guessed she must be in class now? Was there even class? She had an evening drama class later on. Jeez, what a mistake.  
She should probably get to know her more? She wasn’t sure how.  
Since she had moved in, she hadn’t had very much to do. As a returning student, she didn’t need to attend the orientation week or anything. So she just lied around mostly.  
She started coughing, and then hacking. Blech.

When she got back to her room from the bathroom, Kerry was there.  
“Oh!”  
Kerry looked up. She was sitting cross-legged on her bed, holding a notebook and pen. She was small, but also skinny. She was fluffy and brown, like something that fell off a sweater. Her horns were little nubs. Mae wondered if she got into college early or something.  
“Hey,” Mae offered.  
“Hi Mae.”  
“Where did you go?”  
“Walk.”  
“Oh. Cool. So,” Mae lept up on the bed and started dangling her legs, “whatcha doing?”  
“Writing.”  
“Like, for class?”  
“No. I do poems.” Her voice was so soft. Like her fur, probably. Weird.  
Mae chirped, “Can I hear one??”  
“No.”  
“Oh.”  
Kerry looked down at her poems. “Mae,” she said, “do you want to go to this party with me later?”  
“Sure!”  
“Okay, cool. It’s at eight.” Kerry started scribbling in her notebook again.  
“What should I wear???” Mae asked, enthusiastic.  
“Don’t you only have, like, one shirt?”  
“Haha, yeah. I’m like James Earl Jones in Matewan!”  
“What?” Kerry seemed disturbed.  
“Nothing.”  
“Do you ever wash that shirt?”  
“No.” Mae smiled.  
There was a silence, and then Kerry looked up from her notebook.  
“Mae, I think you’re pretty cool.”  
“Thanks Kerry!!!!”  
Mae laid back on her bed, and closed her eyes.

***

She woke with a start. Kerry was pushing her from the side of the bed.  
“Mae, you should get up. You have class soon.” Her voice was like a nice hospital worker. Mae felt so soothed.  
“Oh. Thanks, Kerry…”  
She looked up at Kerry. She had horn-rimmed glasses and a plaid dress on now.  
“Hey, were you wearing glasses before?”  
“No, I wear them to look cool.”  
“That’s cool.” Mae shut her eyes again. She heard Kerry wait for a second before walking out of the dorm room and shutting the door behind her.  
Mae struggled her way out of bed, and ambled towards her closet to change her underwear and pants. She would probably be late for class. She pulled open her laptop again to check the time.  
It was 5:48 PM. There were four more messages from Bea, and an email from Gregg. She opened Gregg’s.  
Her stomach rumbled as she read,  
“hey mae!!!! it’s yr best buddy gregg!!!! “writing from my luxurious apartment in downtown bright harborrr. surrounded by tv stars lol! jk i still live in a dangerous pigsty.”  
“angus got a job working for that newspaper!! it pays basically nothing but he’s so happy and he goes to their cute little office there and smokes with all the cool kids. i’m sooo jealous. going stir-crazy lol”  
“i had to ask my aunt for money recently which was weird haha. how are things with u? how’s college? i want to kno everything about it & everything about yr cute roommate? how r things with u & bea? write me back!!!!”  
“p.s. please don’t fall into a deep depression again! <3”  
She sighed. She had to leave. She closed her laptop and crammed it into her messenger bag and scooted out the door.

Drama class was an uncomfortable environment filled with a lot of older people who were a lot cooler and more comfortable in their bodies than she was. After they read the syllabus for 15 minutes, she had to stand up and do these weird yoga stretches and almost fell over a bunch of times.  
Then everybody talked about like comfort zones and respecting each other and it was super weird and she felt dizzy from hunger and too much sleep the whole time. Still, this was the hectic life of an aspiring actress.  
During a lull in the class, she pulled out her laptop and started writing back to Gregg.  
“Hi Gregg! It’s me Mae. College is going ok. None of my classes have started yet except for drama which is just super cool!”  
“I’m so happy Angus got that job!!!! He’s perfect for it. He’s gonna be such a good journo! Please send me everything he writes. I’m so happy for him!! I’m so happy that he even gets to be in a city with a queer newspaper!!”  
“I haven’t gotten to know Kerry very well but she seems very cool, and she wears glasses. She reminds me of Selmer a little, except like younger and shyer. She could be his little sister, maybe, if they were like, the same species? Or, like, our old English teacher.”  
“Right now I have to be in drama and bring a positive energy to the space so I’ll talk to you later!”  
“- Mae”  
She stumbled out of the classroom at 7:30 and saw Kerry there waiting for her. Oddly, she was wearing a leather biker jacket now.  
“Oh! Hey, Kerry.”  
“Hey.”  
“Have you been waiting there long? Also why?”  
“No, but I was peeking in at you. Cool poses. You should get black clothes.”  
Mae felt deeply embarrassed, and being surrounded by crowds of students rushing out the door didn’t help.  
“Anyway,” Kerry said, “I’m here to take you to the party, remember?”  
“Oh shoot! Do I need to get dressed or something?”  
“No.”  
“Also, where’d you get that jacket??”  
“It’s my boyfriend’s. I’m wearing it to look cool.”  
“You already have a boyfriend???”  
“His name is Max. We dated last year.”  
“Oh, yeah.”  
“Come on,” she said. She put out her hand.  
“Oh, um, do you want me to hold your hand?”  
“Yes.” She sounded oddly bossy about it, like a demanding seven-year old.  
Mae obliged her, and Kerry led her through the campus patiently.  
She had no idea where they were going. She had never even seen this part of campus. She barely even left her room.  
“Is your boyfriend going to be there?” Mae asked.  
“No,” she said, “this is to, like, meet people.”  
“Alright.”  
Mae’s deep desire to flee let itself be known.  
“Hey, Kerry, I think I left something important back at the dorm?”  
Kerry stopped, and turned to her, “What is it?”  
“Like……”  
Kerry turned away, and kept leading her through the campus.  
The leaves were starting to turn brown and die. It was very pretty, Mae thought.  
“Hey, Mae?”  
“Yeah?”  
“Listen, I know you, like, had a bad episode last year. So if you’re uncomfortable going to the party, I understand. But I think it’ll be a good time, and you’ll have fun?”  
Mae was stunned.  
She marched forward silently, staring at the ground. She felt so much like an idiot child. She had deluded herself into thinking that she was the cooler older kid in this scenario, but it was really Kerry all along.  
“Mae, are you okay?”  
“Um,” Mae said, “who told you?”  
“The RA, when we moved in.”  
“Oh.”  
“Mae, it’s okay. I understand.”  
Mae squeezed Kerry’s hand tighter. Kerry seemed pleased, and kept walking.

Kerry led Mae, in a strange but unified silence, slightly off campus and into the frat neighborhood, as the sun set behind them and the air got colder. Mae heard crickets.  
It looked to be some kind of day, or something, as trashy classic rock reverberated out of the houses and parties and ill-conceived games of ping-pong spilled out into the streets.  
Mae looked around nervously, wondering which house she had sealed her fate to. Finally, Kerry led her to a quiet, tall Victorian-looking house. One beaver guy was smoking on the stoop. Kerry stopped in front and waved to the guy. He stood up.  
The guy bowed, and gestured to the door as if he was presenting a showroom item.  
Mae prodded Kerry, worried.  
“Don’t worry about it,” she said, “He’s another English major.”  
They climbed up the creaky steps and into the house, not saying a word to the beaver. As Kerry opened the door, rock immediately blared out of the entrance. Mae got spooked, but didn’t let go, and followed her goat leader in.  
Immediately the party distinguished itself as a cooler and more alternative scene. Some kind of grungy, alt punk rock or high folk blared from a tube amp deep within the kitchen. People wore black hoodies instead of white hoodies. Folks had piercings. The whole scene was firmly communist.  
Kerry led her deeper in as they wordlessly weaved between raccoons, possums, and a few other cats Mae spotted. She stopped at a doe, in a denim jacket and hoop earrings, who was surrounded by a small posse of attentive listeners.  
Kerry and the doe hugged, and she said,  
“Mae, I want you to meet my friend Mary. I think you guys will really get along.”  
Mae was immediately intimidated by how pretty she looked and how much cooler she probably was. She stretched her hand out, which was a weirdly formal sort of gesture in any situation.  
Mary grabbed it, like the Mother Theresa, and held it in both of her hands.  
“Hi, Mae. It’s so nice to meet you.”  
“Good,” Mae said, and nothing else. She was so pretty.  
Mary laughed, and smiled. She let go of Mae’s hand, which was already sweaty. Mae felt her knees weaken as a deep wave of embarrassment hit her.  
“Mae, you look cold,” Kerry piped in. “Do you need a sweater?”  
“Yes,” Mae peeped.  
“I’ll see if I can lift one,” and Kerry disappeared into the crowd.  
“So,” Mary said, gently, “You’re Kerry’s roommate, right?”  
“Yep.” God, why did she say “yep”? No, that was fine, actually. Totally normal.  
“I’m jealous. I wish I could spend more time with her.”  
The three skunk boys that were gathered around Mary waited patiently, solo cups full of foul cocktail in hand.  
“Me and Kerry are art partners,” she went on. “Oh, Mae, do you want a drink?”  
“Conflagration,” Mae said.  
“What?”  
“Sure.”  
Mary pointed to one of the skunks. “Jeremy, could you?”  
Jeremy tiredly pushed his cup towards Mae. Mae accepted it. He grumbled off into the crowd, leaving the huddle.  
“What kind of art do you do?” Mae said. She sipped from the skunk’s cup. It was peach schnapps, with one ice cube.  
“Me and Kerry were in a band. Or more like a bad spoken-word duo. We both played guitar and sang.”  
“It was really embarrassing, but also really good and the greatest thing in my life. I really want her to start doing it with me again,” she said, pleading, “Maybe you could talk to her.”  
“Oh, well. I used to be in a band?” Mae offered.  
“Really?”  
“I was the bassist.”  
“Maybe you could join us? Except,” she thought, “It would ruin our name. ‘Mary-Kerry’.”  
“That’s cute, I think,” Mae stared in her cup.  
“Yeah. Also, we used to have sex.”  
“Oh,” Mae said.  
“Yeah, I hope that starts happening again too,” Mary said. She looked intensely sad, and also seemed a little too open about her sex life. The skunks began to shuffle away.  
“Well, maybe. Uh, doesn’t she have a boyfriend?” Mae asked.  
“Oh, Greg? They’re… open,” Mary said, though she didn't seem convinced.  
“I know a Gregg!” Mae perked up.  
“Do you? Is he also bad at sex?” Mary glared.  
“I don’t think so?” Mae started to feel as though she was getting in the middle of something.  
“Yeah, well,” Mary sighed. “I should go, I’ll talk to you later.” She turned her back on Mae and strode off.  
“Cool,” whispered Mae.  
Alone at the party, she leaned against a wall and reached in her bag for her journal. She drew a profile Mary, and wrote “MAERY”. Then she put some whiskers on her.  
“You a fellow artist?” someone hollered at her.  
“Shit,” Mae said, and looked up.  
It was a dog in a backwards baseball cap.  
“I’m Trent.”  
“Fuck!” Mae said.  
“Whoa, what’s wrong?”  
“Oh, uh, nothing. Sorry. It’s just you caught me?”  
“Caught you?” Trent tilted his head to the side a little, like you see in movies.  
“Uh, no, it’s nothing. How are… Trent?”  
“Trent’s good.” He sipped from his beverage. “What are you drawing?”  
“Um, Mary. Is this her house?”  
“For sure. She’s super rich.”  
“Really?”  
“Fooor sure.”  
“Oh.”  
Trent continued to sip.  
Mae stuffed her notebook back in her bag. “Hey, Trent, I’m sorry, I need to go.”  
“Oh, uh, that’s cool.”  
“Yeah,” she said. She rushed through the crowd, searching for the door. She hadn’t even noticed that the noise was getting to her.  
Mae found the door, and jiggled the knob until it was open, and pushed her way out of the house into the nighttime. She took a long breath.  
Ahead of her was Kerry, standing in the middle of the street, holding a hoodie in her arms. “Mae!!!!”  
“Aaaaa!!!!”


End file.
